NYCT breaks ground on new Staten Island Railway station

Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) New York City Transit's (NYCT) new Staten Island Railway station broke ground October 18, which will be Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant and replace the existing Atlantic and Nassau Stations in the Tottenville section of the borough.

"We are pleased to finally get this project funded and off the shelf," said MTA President Carmen Bianco. "This new station will replace two outmoded facilities, finally offering our Staten Island Railway customers the kind of station and amenities that they deserve."

The Arthur Kill Station will feature ramps, two concrete side platforms with canopies, windscreens and benches and surveillance cameras and customer assistance intercoms at platform off-hour waiting areas. The station will be able to accommodate a four-car train and a 150-car parking lot will be built across the street. The Arthur Kill Station is slated to open in late 2015 and at that time, the old Nassau and Atlantic Stations will be demolished.

The original Nassau Station was only an 80-foot platform that was extended to 300 feet about 40 years. That extension was closed in 2010 due to its deteriorated condition, allowing for a single-door only operation at the station. The Atlantic Station was also built with an 80-foot platform that can only accommodate boarding through one door.

Neither of these stations had been included in previous station modernization projects because the plan, first proposed in the early 1990s, was to build the new Arthur Kill Station between the two. After suffering deferment over the past 20 years due to budget constraints, the project is now fully funded in the amended 2010-2014 Capital Program.

The $15.3-million construction contract of was awarded to John P. Picone Inc. on July 31, 2013.